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Ecological Antagonists and Partners: Trees, Beetles, and Woodpeckers

Learn how beetles destroy spruce trees—and how spruce trees fight back—in this video from NATURE: Forest of the Lynx. Teaching tips ask students to explore the ecological relationships in the video and compare them to ecological relationships from other ecosystems.

Ecological Relationships Activity Use the vocabulary terms to review the different types of ecological relationships. Ask students to think about the ecological relationships in their everyday life. If a classroom pet or houseplant is available, begin the discussion by asking students what their ecological relationship is to the pet or plant. Students can then use the thinking map to analyze the different ecological relationships portrayed in the video. Expand on the activity by viewing the videos in the related resources, identifying the ecological relationships in those videos, and comparing them to the ecological relationships in this video.

Vocabulary

Commensalism — a relationship between species in which one benefits and the other does not benefit but is not harmed.

Competition — a relationship between species in which both compete for the same environmental resources, harming both species.

Mutualism — a symbiotic relationship between species in which both organisms benefit.

Parasitism — a symbiotic relationship between species in which the parasitic organism benefits and the host is harmed.

Predation — a symbiotic relationship between species in which the predator species captures and feeds on the prey species.

Symbiosis/symbiotic — a close and long-term relationship between species, the relationship can be beneficial or harmful.